The bakery
by kettleowl
Summary: It started when he called me 'Pathetic' and it started again when i told him he didn't need to pay for his cupcakes. TSUKIYAMA bakery AU ( repost of old story cause i accidentally deleted it )
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Let me tell you a story

Name: Yamaguchi Tadashi

Occupation: Baker

Work place: The small bakery at the corner

Speciality: Baking cupcakes and sleeping

Current worry: He can't stop thinking about the blonde customer who's a regular of the shop and his long time crush

Since it's located at the corner of the street, the bakery didn't have many customers at first. But after a journalist ate there, he wrote an article about the – as he wrote – amazing bakery with incredible caked and tea, more and more people came to the bakery. The bakery that used to have five or six people each day became stuffed with customer everyday. The owner of the bakery, who worked alone before, had to hire more staffs to help him out. And Yamaguchi is one of those staff.

He was a newly graduated student of the local cooking school then. When he saw the hiring notification, he applied without a second thought. And that was one of the best decision he has ever made.

Now, he's working with the best people he has ever met. The bakery's owner and the main cake baker Sugawara Koushi, the multi baker Akaashi Keiji (Yamaguchi once saw him baked a cake version of their whole town based on a single picture and remembering it still gives him goose bump), the beautiful manager and waitress Shimizu Kiyoko, the cute manager-in-training and waitress Hitoka Yachi, the tea specialist with pudding hair Kozume Kenma and the hyperactive waiter duo Nishinoya Yuu and Hinata Shouyou. With a job and workmates like this, Yamaguchi has nothing to worry about. He shouldn't have thought that. Yamaguchi remembers the day it all changed; he remembers it as clear as yesterday.

That day the bakery was full of people like always, though most of the people were elementary students. A class of a nearby school had chosen every Thursday's afternoon as cakes and cupcake's afternoon, so their bakery is always stuffed with children on Thursday's afternoons. Between the children's talking and laughing, a small 'ding' was heard, signalling the arrival of another guests. Yamaguchi looked out fro his position in the kitchen and saw the last person he expected to be there. Waked through the door of the bakery was no other than his elementary, middle school and high school crush, Tsukishima Kei.

And he didn't exactly walk though it though, more lie being pushed into the bakery by someone. And this someone was his brother, Tsukishima Akiteru. How Yamaguchi knew whom his brother was, well, you would know about your crush's family if you studied with them all 12 years of school in the same class. Yamaguchi was sure Tsukishima didn't even notice him then. The first time Yamaguchi saw Tsukishima was when he was being bullied and Tsukishima walked by, no he didn't go in and save Yamaguchi, and said only one word "Pathetic". His bullies went for Tsukishima but he, with his tall figure and arrogant face scared them all. Yamaguchi admired him from then; he knew the word "Pathetic" was probably aimed at him too but he can't help but looked up to that towering back. Yamaguchi secretly watched Tsukishima from then on. He didn't know when it went from admiration to like – love even. But it was love, and Yamaguchi was trapped inside it.

Until college, while Tsukishima went to some business college, Yamaguchi went to the cooking school. Yamaguchi went to the cooking school with no hope at all. He didn't have the talent to go on higher education. Hell, he barely passed high school. He thought being a cook would let him get a job easier. But he was glad he chose that, because that's why he's here now.

But why was Tsukishima here too? His college was far from here. It had been too long since Yamaguchi last saw him. Yamaguchi didn't realize how much he missed Tsukishima until that moment. That familiar face, with the ever-lasting frown when he was being forced to something. That familiar figure, towering height – Yamaguchi saw some kids looked up to him in wonder, he was once like that.

He watched as the two brothers argued for a while and Tsukishima sighed, heading to the counter while big brother Tsukishima headed for an unoccupied table. Then, Yamaguchi noticed something. All the waiters and waitresses were busy with taking of the kids, Sugawara and Akaashi were busy with a special order cake and Kenma would be too lazy to do anything. So he, Yamaguchi Tadashi, would be the person to take care of Tsukishima's order. He was so dead.

While Yamaguchi mulled over his bad luck, Tsukishima had reached the counter and was looking for someone. Despite his internal screaming, Yamaguchi accepted his fate and walked out of the kitchen.

"I'm Yamaguchi Tadashi, welcome to the NAME bakery. What can I get for you?" Yamaguchi took a deep breath and showed his smile, although he looked pretty creepy when he forced a smile.

"I'll take a strawberry and a chocolate chips cupcakes and two cups of tea too. We'll eat here." Tsukishima said, already puling out his wallet.

"That would be 600 yen." Yamaguchi pulled the cupcakes out and went to Kenma's place to take the two cups of tea.

When Yamaguchi came back, he saw a child by Tsukishima's leg, looking up at the chocolate chips cupcake. Then he watched as Tsukishima sighed and gave the child the cupcake, patting the kid's head while doing so. The kid's was so bright that it could rival Hinata's own sunshine smile when she skipped back to her friends.

Yamaguchi quickly walked back to the counter and placed another chocolate chips cupcake on the tray.

"It's on the house." Yamaguchi said with a smile, pushing both the tray and the extra money Tsukishima had just taken out toward the blonde. The 'Thank you' with the slight smile he got in return made his heart eat faster and his face automatically reddened. Yamaguchi squeaked out a small 'Thank you and come again' and promptly ran back to the kitchen.

Once safe behind the kitchen's door, Yamaguchi hold his burning face in his hands and breathed. That was too dangerous. His heart might overwork and he could die if he saw that slight smile another time. He was so pathetic and pitiful. The rest of his work time was spent peaking at Tsukishima from behind the kitchen's door. And when the brother left, Yamaguchi indulged himself in self-pity and proceeded to bake cake, something he did only when he was sad and bothered. Luckily, nobody asked him anything. Although he heard Nishinoya and Hinata being told to leave him alone by Sugawara and Shimizu. He was thankful for that and when he left, he thanked them for everything and promised to be better the next day.

That night, he decided to spoil himself to get his mind of Tsukishima. He went to this food street where he used to eat when he was a student. He hadn't been there in ages and with the amount of food there, he would be distracted enough not to think about Tsukishima.

After a bowl of ramen, a dish of tempura, a serving of okonomiyaki, Yamaguchi decided t have dango and tea for dessert. He settled himself in a small shop and called for two dishes plus a cup of tea. Just when he was about to pay for it, someone else stopped him and paid for it. He looked up to the face of none other than Tsukishima Kei himself. Just his luck, it just had to be Tsukishima, Yamaguchi could cry right now. To make the matter worse, he saw Tsukishima called a serving and a cup of tea for himself and seated himself across Yamaguchi. All he wanted to do then was to flee and hide in his room. What should he do now?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Complete shut down

With his internal panicking, Yamaguchi didn't notice when the dango was brought along with the tea.

"Are you going to eat?"

"Huh… what?"

"I asked if you were going to eat those dango?"

Yamaguchi stared dumbly at Tsukishima, then looked down to two servings of dango in front of him. Suddenly he didn't feel so hungry anymore.

"Um… I'm going to bring them home to eat. Thank you for paying them for me." Yamaguchi awkwardly brought the servings to the owner to pack them up. While he waited, Yamaguchi nervously sipped on the cup of tea he luckily remembered to pick up and tried to be as sneaky as possible when he peaked at Tsukishima. Finally getting his packed dango, Yamaguchi ran out of the shop and headed for the bus stop. The air was slightly cold but it felt soothing and unconsciously, Yamaguchi walked slower and slower.

When he got to the bus stop, he realized he shouldn't have done that. Just what kind of unlucky day he was having? If he had walked faster, he wouldn't have missed the last bus, which stopped 5 minutes ago. Looking into his wallet, he pitied himself for what he was going to do next, which was walking home. It wasn't like he didn't have enough money to call a taxi, but he was stingy. It was one of his bad things and he knew it was a bad one but couldn't really bring himself to get rid of it. Walking home from here would take along time. At least it was healthy; he really needed some exercise anyway. Just as he made up his mind and started walking, a car parked in front of him. This wasn't going to be good, Yamaguchi just had a really bad feeling.

The car's window slowly scrolled down and once again, Yamaguchi felt like lady luck really hate him.

"Get in." Tsukishima said simply, opening the lock of the car's door.

"I-I wouldn't want to bother you! I was just about to walk home! I need some exercise! Please keep on moving!" Yamaguchi reasoned in panic, saying the first thing on his mind. He just couldn't – wouldn't – be in the same car with his long time crush. It would be too dangerous! Tsukishima might find out that he had a crush on him!

"Get in already, it's going to rain." Tsukishima said irritably and only then did Yamaguchi notice the dark clouds hovering above them. It was like all of his bad luck decided to gather together today! Yamaguchi slowly got in the car and mumbled a small 'Thank you' to Tsukishima. At least he still had dango to comfort himself. Thinking that, Yamaguchi unwrapped the pack and pulled out a dango stick. He hummed as he put the dango in his mouth, enjoying the sweetness.

"Where to turn now?"

"Huh?"

"To your house, which turn should I take?"

"Ah! Left, turn left here! Then turn right and another left!" Yamaguchi almost screamed out the answer. He was beyond embarrassed now. It seemed like he lost all talking ability when he was around Tsukishima.

Trying to distract himself, Yamaguchi checked out the interior of the car. It didn't have the smell of a new car, it didn't look new either. But it wasn't an old car, all the skins of the seats weren't one of those old car. The engine sounded smooth too. Yamaguchi guessed the car belonged to Tsukishima's brother.

Then his eyes unconsciously turned back to the other person in the car. Now, with the small distance, Yamaguchi could clearly look at Tsukishima. Tsukishima looked, he looked more mature. All of his features were sharper. He lost most of the baby fat on his face, showing the strong line of a man's face. His pair of eyes was shining with maturity, snugly hidden behind a pair of glasses, which also had a sense of grown up to them. His high nose and perfect thin lips of a man. His frame was thicker than when he was in high school. But it wasn't the I'm-full-of-muscle kind of thick but it was more like the I'm-fit-and-healthy kind of thick. Tsukishima must have gotten taller too; he was at least a head taller than Yamaguchi sitting like this. Tsukishima was a man. And suddenly, Yamaguchi felt so small.

"Stop staring at me."

Tsukishima's voice surprised him and Yamaguchi jumped in his seat, successfully sent the pack of dango flying. On reflex, Yamaguchi reached out for the pack and felt his whole body tilted as the same direction as his hand and the dango pack.

He didn't even realise it but in the midst of falling, Yamaguchi had closed his eyes and now, when he opened them, there was something that didn't look like the car's windshield glass in front of him. Slowly, really slowly, Yamaguchi lifted his head up and looked up. The first thing he saw was Tsukishima's beyond blank face. The next thing he noticed was that half of his body was sprawled across Tsukishima's lap.

Even quicker than lighting, Yamaguchi leaped out of Tsukishima's lap back to his seat, waiting for Tsukishima to kick him out of the car. He waited, and waited. And waited. Wasn't Tsukishima taking a little too long? He peaked at Tsukishima and saw him still sitting there, with that same blank look on his face. Think fast Tadashi, you had to do something!

"Would you like some dango?" Wait, what! What did he just say? Did he just ask if Tsukishima wanted some dango? Brain, you weren't helping at all.

"I mean… uh… I'll just get out of your car now. Sorry… and thanks anyway." Yamaguchi gloomily apologized and moved to open the door.

"I'll take on the dango offer."

"Huh? You what?" Yamaguchi dumbly asked back, mouth hanging opened.

"Do you know how many times I have had to said things twice before you give me an answer? This is the last time I'm going to say thing again. I'll take on your dango offer."

Yamaguchi stared at Tsukishima for a while before he had his biggest smile of the day.

"Ne, I just guess but, um, do you have a sweet tooth?" Yamaguchi giggled, feeling strangely giddy. But Tsukishima looked strangely red from his seat. Did he say something wrong to make Tsukishima mad?

"Ne, are you mad? Don't be mad. Here" Yamaguchi pulled out a dango stick and put it in front of Tsukishima's mouth "Open your mouth, I'll feed you. Say 'ah'."

Yamaguchi expectedly looked at Tsukishima, waiting for the taller to open his mouth. It felt like hours had passed by before Tsukishima slowly opened his mouth and took a dango in his mouth. Yamaguchi smiled happily and fed Tsukishima the remaining dango. Just before his brain shut down and Yamaguchi promptly fainted.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The day after

Yamaguchi felt like dying. Slowly, he slid out of the bed and headed for the bathroom, only to walk straight into the wall. Yamaguchi grumpily opened his eyes and glared at the wall.

"Why are you here, you stupid wall? Hurting people first thing in the morning!" he mumbled. But Yamaguchi's room didn't have a wall there. This way led straight to the bathroom. There was something strange here, very strange.

He sat down on the bed again and rubbed his eyes off the weariness. Then he took in his surrounding. The room was simple enough with a bed, a closet, a table and a chair. There were two doors, which he guessed one would lead to the bathroom and the other connected to the hall. Yamaguchi Tadashi was absolutely sure he wasn't in his own house and the questions here were whose house this was and who brought him here. But as he tried to remember what happened the previous night, his head throbbed painfully and Yamaguchi let out a groan.

He would definitely found the answers to those questions right after he found some pills for the headache. He once again tried to stand up and unsteadily walked to one of the doors. But before he could open it, the door sprang open and hit him square in the face.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. Here, let me help you."

The person hurriedly helped Yamaguchi back to his feet and led him back to the bed.

"Thank y-"

His voice stuck in his throat when Yamaguchi saw who it was. The person in front of him was Tsukishima Akiteru! Tsukishima's brother! Which meant he was in Tsukishima's house! Which meant something had happened last night. And Yamaguchi automatically panicked.

"Whoa there, don't start panicking on me. Breath in and out slowly."

Akiteru said while patting Yamaguchi's back. Seriously, that little brother of his! Bringing someone back home and leaving before that person even wake up! Akiteru swore he had taught Kei better than that! Now it was all up to him to take care of this poor stranger who started to panic and on their way to fainting. You aren't cute at all Kei! Not even a little remotely cute!

"Hey, my name is Tsukishima Akiteru. What's your name?"

He asked what my name was. How should I answer him? Should I say a fake name? Should I even speak? He was staring at me now. Just say something Tadashi.

"My name is Y-yamaguchi Tadashi."

The stranger looked constipated for a moment before he answered Akiteru's simple question. Akiteru sighed, at least the stranger wasn't too scared to speak.

"You are in my brother and my house right now. You must know my brother, Tsukishima Kei right?"

Akiteru leisurely asked and watched at the stranger hesitantly nodded his head, seemingly a little relax. Which was good because he couldn't deal with him if the stranger was too tense to even listen to him.

"So Yamaguchi-san, sorry again for slamming the door into you earlier, I thought you were still asleep. You must feel terrible right now, so these are some pills that would help. Please drink it."

Yamaguchi received the pills and the cup of water from Akiteru, after muttering a 'thank you' he drank the pills. He closed his eyes and sighed, waiting for the pills to kick in. A few minutes later, he reopened them and sighted no Tsukishima Akiteru in the room.

"Hey, have you done in there? If you're done with the pills, get in the bathroom and get clean. And once you finish, come to the kitchen!"

Yamaguchi heard Akiteru said from somewhere down the hall. Decided to listen to Akiteru, Yamaguchi headed for the bathroom.

When he finally got to the kitchen, Akiteru was sitting at the table, enjoying a cup of coffee. On the table were the simple breakfast of rice, fried fish and miso soup. Yamaguchi slipped into one of the chair across Akiteru and silently looked at him.

"Don't be shy, help yourself." Akiteru chuckled, pushing the fried fish toward Yamaguchi.

"I can't, Tsukishima-san. I've already bothered you so much. Please eat, I'm going to go leave now." Yamaguchi shook his head furiously and stood up.

"I've already eaten, Yamaguchi-san. If you don't eat, it will be a waste of food and that will bother me very much. So why don't you leave after finishing the breakfast." Akiteru smiled and placed his cup on the table.

Yamaguchi had already opened his mouth to refuse when his stomach let out an angry growl. Instantly his face heated up and Yamaguchi found himself wanting to hide in a hole.

"See, your stomach seems to agree with me. So please sit down and eat."

Yamaguchi reluctantly sat down and started to eat, embarrassing that Akiteru kept on laughing. After he had finished, he washed the dishes and was glad that Akiteru didn't stop him. It was the least he could do when the man let him stay the night and have breakfast.

"You know, you look kind of familiar. Have we met before?" Akiteru asked when Yamaguchi was drying his hands. He had the feeling he had seen the stranger somewhere before.

"Um, you and your brother ate in the bakery I worked yesterday, the Sunshine bakery. I was the one who served you two." Yamaguchi timidly answered, wondering if Tsukishima Akiteru could remember him.

"Oh, really? You were the one who gave us 2 chocolate cupcakes huh? Thank you very much then." Akiteru replied with a good-hearted smile, pushing a cup of water toward Yamaguchi.

"It's nothing really! He had given one of the kids his cupcake so it's only fair that we gave him one in return. Did you two enjoy the cupcakes?" The baker in him kicked in and Yamaguchi simply wanted to know what the brother thought about his cupcakes.

"It was absolute delicious. The cupcakes were perfectly baked; the flavour was not too sweet – which was really appreciated because some shops make cakes cloyingly sweet leading to me can't eat it. All in all, the cupcakes were wonderful, I'm definitely coming back."

Yamaguchi's heart jumped at the compliment. It was nice to hear someone said that. It was these kind words that made him loved baking even more. The satisfactory of the customers after eating one's cake always managed to make his day seemed brighter and more beautiful.

"We would be happy to welcome you back anytime, Tsukishima-san. Thank you for the compliment!" Yamaguchi gave Akiteru one happy and grateful smile. Maybe this wouldn't turn out so bad after all.

"Thank you Yamaguchi-kun. If you don't mind, can you tell me how you know Kei?"

Too soon, he said too soon.

Hello, I'm Link, the author of this story, really nice to meet you. Thank you all for reading this story and stick with it although I'm really awful at updating ; u ;

This chapter we don't have any Tsukishima and TSUKIYAMA (caps necessary) but we have Akiteru. I think he and Yamaguchi will get along really good because their connection with Tsukishima.

And why I choose to write bakery AU is because Tsukishima's fav food is strawberry shortcake and I think Yamaguchi will learn how to make it so he can bake it for Tsukishima – my headcanon.

Big thanks to Calico Neko for reviewing! Would you like something to happen in this story or a certain couple? Or maybe you want a one-short? Because you are the first one to review so I will (try, because I'm really slow at writing and typing and updating) writing a one-short for you as a thank you.

Also, for your question, I suggest you read the manga? Because then you will know who Tsukishima Akiteru is (Kei's canon bro) and Kei's past and the 'Pathetic' story.


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